What are the greatest opening lines to songs?
Composers often agonize over lyrics, hoping to come up with an opening line that will grab the listener. My all time favourite is from Billy Bragg’s “Levi Stubbs’ Tears.” It says so much in so few words.
With the money from her accident, she bought herself a mobile home.
Ruminate on that for just a few seconds and you begin to form a picture of the life of the woman in the song.
A site called Yardbreaker has listed what it considers the best opening lines of all time. Here’s a sample:
- Hello darkness, my old friend/I’ve come to talk to you again – “The Sounds of Silence,” Simon and Garfunkel
- This is the end/Beautiful friend/This is the end/My only friend, the end – “The End,” The Doors
- The screen door slams / Mary’s dress waves / Like a vision, she dances across the porch as the radio plays. – “Thunder Road,” Bruce Springsteen
- She’s got a smile that it seems to me / Reminds me of childhood memories / Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky. – “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Guns N’ Roses
The full list can be found here. You got anything to add?
Can I say when I go?
Can I say when I go?
Bury out of my skin
Bury out of my skin
Just Mustard – “Deaf”
Patti Smith – “Gloria”
Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.
Well I woke up Sunday morning
No way to hold my head that didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad
So I had one more for dessert
Sunday Morning Coming Down
Kris Kristofferson
Children are innocent,
Teenager’s ****** up in the head,
Adults are even more ****** up,
And elderlies are like children.
“Pets” by Porno for Pyros
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
Running On Empty -Jackson Browne
Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet
Visions of Johanna, Bob Dylan
I’m a bad dream
I’m not a nightmare I’m too pretty for that
I’m the last thing you want to see coming
I’m the reason they say watch your back
Saint of Lost Causes – Justin Townes Earle
Now here’s a little story I’ve got to tell, about three bad brothers you know so well.
-Paul Revere- by The Beastie Boys